Bones in High School
by RiseOfTheMoon
Summary: My take on what would happen if our favorite dynamic duo were to meet in the wonderful world of high school. This is my first fan-fiction, so constructive criticism please! :)
1. Chapter 1

The Booth house was always a mess in the mornings, and even more so on the first day of school. This year was no different. The small house was filled with loud thumps as pairs of shoes, or backpacks laden with books hit the ground, or the blaring of alarm clocks, and the annoyed mumbles of said alarm clock's owners as they were roused from sleep.

"Seeley! Jared! Hurry up! You're going to be late!" Hank Booth called up the stairs to his two grandsons.

"Coming!"

"Almost ready!"

There were more thunderous thumps as the two boys charged down the stairs, each trying to beat the other.

"I won!" Jared, the younger of the two cheered as he reached the bottom.

"Did not!" The older, Seeley defended, pushing his brother into a wall.

"Yes I did!"

"Nope!"

The boys continued their argument into the kitchen, where they were instantly shut up by the look on their grandfathers' face.

"Sorry Pops," Seeley said automatically, grabbing an apple from the bowl on the table, and snatching up his bag. "See ya later! Common Jar-head."

"I'm coming!" The smaller boy said, copying his brother and following him out the door.

The pair climbed into Seeley's ancient pick-up truck, and rattled off towards the high school that they now both attended, Seeley a senior, and Jared a freshman. After a few minutes, they arrived at the school, pulling into the parking lot, and leaving the car, separating, each going off to join his own friends. Seeley grinned to himself as he returned a few of the smiles and waves that were thrown his way.

This was senior year, and it was going to be great. He was the quarterback on the varsity football team, and played center on the city's junior hockey league. He was dating the head cheerleader, Hannah Burley, a pretty blonde girl who Seeley wasn't to crazy about, but didn't have the heart to break up with. _Yep, _he thought, _this year is going to be good. _As long as he could keep his grades up. That was one thing Seeley often had trouble with. It wasn't that he was stupid, but he didn't catch onto things quite as fast, and was usually to busy with sports to study. This year though, he was determined to pass with all A's if he could help it.

He was so immersed in his own thoughts, that he didn't notice the small, pale, auburn-haired girl that was crossing his path until he ran into her, causing the large stack of books in her hands to fall, spreading across the linoleum floor of the school.

"Sorry, I didn't see you there, sorry!" Seeley sputtered, moving to gather the girl's books back into a pile.

"It's fine, I've got it." The girl replied softly, mumbling into the curtain of hair that covered her face.

"No, it's not, here, I'll carry them to class for you, where are you heading?"

"You don't need to carry them, I'm perfectly able of doing so myself."

"I know you can, but I want to help you."

"I'm fine."

"Come on, let me help!" Seeley was practically begging now.

"Fine!" The girl sounded angry now. She shoved the pile of books at him, and stood up, brushing her hair out of her face. Seeley picked up the books easily, and turned to face the girl, who had finally pushed her hair out of her face. She was... beautiful.

Her long, shiny hair was a pretty auburn color, and her skin smooth, and milky white. Those were nothing though when compared to her eyes. They were a beautiful cerulean blue, and the sparkled brilliantly, even with the horrible lighting provided by the ancient fluorescent bulbs hanging from the ceiling. They were beautiful, but seemed sad, and lonely, instead of happy, and hopeful like they should have been. She wore baggy, out of style clothes, and carried a beat up bag on one shoulder.

"Uh... what... what class are you headed to?" Seeley managed to ask.

"AP Anatomy."

"Hey, me too!"

"Great." Her voice was emotionless.

"So," Seeley started, walking towards their class, "I'm Seeley Booth, but you can just call me Booth, Seeley is kinda weird. What's your name?"

"Temperance Brennan."


	2. Chapter 2

Temperance Brennan always loved the first day of school when she was growing up. The newness of it all; new clothes, new books, new school supplies. New teachers, new classmates, and new things to learn. Oh, the things to learn! Temperance loved learning. She loved being challenged intellectually, even though school provided very little challenge. It was all to easy. But, never the less, there were new things to learn, no matter how short of a time they stayed new.

The last few years, though, the first day of school hadn't had the same wonder to it as it had previously. Temperance's parents had disappeared, and she had ended up floating from foster home to foster home, most of them not caring one bit about her. There were a few, of course, that actually appeared to like her, that treated her well, but they ended up like all the rest, telling her that she didn't fit in, and passing her off to a new family. Most of the people she lived with didn't really care about her, just kept her shut up in her room, only taking her on because of the money they would receive that was supposed to put towards her happiness and welfare. Then there were the ones that only decided to foster a kid because they wanted someone new to beat up. Those were, quite obviously, the worst, and Temperance had just been put into another one. So far, she'd only received a few minor cuts and bruises, and as long as the man of the house, Robert Henson, didn't see her, (unless he was mad for one reason or another) she was relatively safe as far as not being hit went.

At 4:30 on the dot, Temperance's alarm began to beep quietly. She woke instantly, softly hitting the alarm to stop the beeping. She hurriedly got ready, careful not to make a sound, and slipped out the front door, deciding to wander around the neighborhood in order to waste time before school started at 7:30. She still had about two hours to do as she pleased before she would have to head off to school, but waking up early was her only option unless she wanted to deal with Mr. Henson. She wove through the still sleeping streets, beat up bag slung over one shoulder. Temperance loved early mornings. They were peaceful, and quiet, and if you got up early enough, you could watch the sun melt the diamond-like stars, and turn the sky from black speckled with silver to a beautiful array of colors that Temperance knew was caused by pollution, but still never failed to find lovely. There was never anyone around to hit you, or tell you off, or to point and laugh at your ill-fitting clothes that screamed "I'm a foster kid!".

Mornings weren't eternal however, and it wasn't long until Temperance had to find her way out of the neighborhood and head towards the high school that she would be attending as a junior. The way she felt about the first day of school applied to the rest of the days, just without the newness. She loved to learn, but she knew that even though she was taking advanced classes, nothing would act as much of a challenge.

After about a twenty minute walk, Temperance arrived at the school. She walked fast, keeping her head ducked down, trying to sort through the maze of hallways to locate her first class, AP Anatomy. She was focused on finding the class that she didn't notice the tall, brown haired boy with the strong muscled build until after she had run into him.

"Sorry, I didn't see you there, sorry!" The boy said, sounding sincere and moving to gather the books Temperance had dropped.

"It's fine, I've got it." She replied.

"No, it's not, here, I'll carry them to class for you, where are you heading?"

"You don't need to carry them, I'm perfectly able of doing so myself."

"I know you can, but I want to help you."

"I'm fine." The boy didn't seem to want to leave her alone.

"Come on, let me help!" He begged.

"Fine!" Temperance gave in, pushing the pile of books towards him, getting to her feet, tucking the hair that had fallen in her face behind an ear, and finally looking up at the boy.

He was rather attractive, Temperance decided, taking in his strong features. He had tan skin, and dark brown hair that had probably started off neatly combed, but was now rather messy. His eyes were a dark, chocolatey brown, and his nose, while slightly large, fit his face just right. He wore a pair of denim jeans, and a fitted gray t-shirt with some random band logo printed on the front. By the look of him, he was probably an athlete, and most likely thought that he was the coolest person on the planet. Temperance rolled her eyes, but he didn't seem to notice, he was to busy looking at her, in a trance-like state.

"Uh... what... what class are you headed to?" The boy asked, coming out of his daze.

"AP Anatomy."

"Hey, me too!"

"Great." Another eye roll that he didn't notice.

"So," the boy started, walking towards their class, Temperance's books balanced in his arms. "I'm Seeley Booth, but you can just call me Booth, Seeley is kinda weird. What's your name?"

"Temperance Brennan."


	3. Chapter 3

"Temperance, huh?" Booth asked. "That's a unique name."

"I don't like it, feel free to insult it."

Booth smiled. "Okay then, it makes me think of an old lady in a nursing home."

Now it was Temperance's turn to smile. "Me too, a little bit."

The pair began to walk down the hall, Booth knowing where to go.

"Why don't you do like I do? Just go by your last name. Benson was it?"

"Brennan." Temperance corrected. "Maybe..."

"You have any siblings that go here?"

She thought sadly of her brother, Russ before answering. "No."

"Then it's perfect! You can be Brennan! You're new here right?"

Temperance nodded quietly.

"Even better! Everyone can just learn your name as Brennan, you can forget about Temperance!"

"Yeah... I might actually do that... Thanks... Booth, right?"

"Yep!"

They turned a corner.

"So, you're a senior right?" Booth asked, trying to restart the dying conversation.

"No, a junior."

"Really? I though AP Anatomy was seniors only."

"It usually is, but the school made an exception. I am incredibly intelligent."

"Huh. Good to know, I'll come talk to you when I get confused."

"You could talk to the teacher, also. That is what they're paid for"

"I know, but I don't really like asking teacher though, they make me feel stupid."

"But they make you smarter."

"Yeah, but if you're as smart as you say you are, then you would make me smarter too" Booth sent Brennan his charm smile, and received a crooked smile from her in return.

"That is true."

Booth and the newly named "Brennan" continued slowly walking to class, talking about this, and that, that and this. It wasn't at all forced like it often was when talking to people who you just met, but was natural, and the conversation flowed easily. It took less than five minutes to get from where they started to the classroom Booth was leading them towards, but even within that tiny time frame, they manged to bicker like an old married couple about the helpfulness of teachers, the stupidity of the majority of high school students, and whether or not "stupidness," as Booth called it, was a word.

"It is to!" Booth claimed as they walked into a room sporting two large windows, a multitude of shelves, a chalkboard, and a life size model skeleton.

"No, it's not!" Brennan retorted. "The word you are looking for, as I've already pointed out, is 'Stupidity'!"

"Eh, I like stupidness better."

Booth headed off towards a pair of empty seats towards the back of the room, but Brennan stayed put, standing awkwardly at the front of the room, not sure if he meant for her to follow him or not. They mystery was short lived however, because it wasn't long before Booth turned around, a confused look on his face. He looked around for a moment before his eyes came to rest on Brennan, still standing at the front of the slowly filling room. He raised his arm, still watching her, motioning for her to follow him. Smiling, she did.

"What, did you think I was going to ditch you or something?"

"No, I was merely unsure of exactly what to do in the situation, and chose to simply wait for the situation to clarify so that I would be able to complete the action most deemed most socially acceptable."

Boot looked confused. "You what?"

"I-" She started, but was cut off by the loud dinging of a school bell, shortly followed by the teacher, a tall, good looking man with short dark brown hair, beginning the customary "welcome back to school" speeches.

"Hello everybody, as most of you know I am Mr. Stires, I teach the normal Anatomy class as well as this one, so chances are very high that you've had me before. So, I'll go ahead and take roll, say 'here' when your name is called please."

Mr. Stires began calling names, and it wasn't long before he got to the "B's" on his alphabetical list, which were home to both Booth and Brennan.

"Temperance Brennan, there's a new name, where's the face?" Stires said, looking across the classroom.

Brennan raised her hand. "Here, and it's just Brennan, please."

"Okay, _Brennan_" He made a note of the preferred name on the paper, and Booth smiled proudly.

"Booth, where did you go?" Stires mumbled, the memory of the boy having not faded over the two and a half month summer vacation. "Ah! Next to Brennan.. To last name-ers in a row, eh?"

"Yep!" Booth said, tilting his chair back and stretching out.

"You're going to fall over, Booth." Brennan warned as Stires continued taking roll.

"No I'm not, I'm a master at this! See?" He tilted the chair back even farther.

"No, you're going to fall."

"No I'm-" He was cut off as the chair legs lost their grip on the tiled floor and he fell backwards.

"Told you." Brennan said, looking smartly towards the front of the room.

"Is everything okay over there?" Stires asked, his voice a combination of concerned and amused.

"Fine. Just fine..." Booth grumbled, picking himself up off the ground to find Brennan barley able to control her giggles. "Shut up."

* * *

So what do you think? Review, and let me know! I know Brennan hasn't become "Bones" yet, but hold on, it's coming! Also in the future... *gets crystal ball* is that Angela I see? Stay tuned, and find out!


	4. Chapter 4

The rest of the Anatomy class was unremarkable; nothing but rules, expectations, and the course outline. Brennan payed close attention, committing even the smallest, insignificant details to memory, while Booth sat slouched over his desk, trying to coral and ant with his pencil. The hour passed, quickly for Brennan, slowly for Booth, and it wasn't long before the bell was once again making itself heard over the PA system, causing the majority of the class to jolt awake, and gather their things to go.

"See you later?" Booth asked, leaving the classroom, Brennan by his side.

"Maybe."

"Tomorrow for sure?"

"Unless one of us is not able to attend school tomorrow because of some unforeseen circumstances."

"So... yes?"

Brennan shook her head, smiling at him. "Bye Booth."

"Bye!" He called over his shoulder as they parted, Brennan heading towards the art class she was required to take, and Booth towards Spanish.

Brennan smiled softly towards herself as she thought about Booth. He was... different. Obviously popular, and self confident, but still... She couldn't put her finger on the word. He had helped her after they ran into each other, insisted on carrying her books to their next class, and even had her sit by him in said class. Of course, there didn't seem to be any of his jock friends in the anatomy class, but still... He chose to sit by her, the frumpy, nerdy foster kid. And even more strange than that, Brennan almost felt as if she could trust him, which was not something she was very familiar with. She didn't know why she got this feeling around this boy, but she was definitely happy about it. A friend was always a valuable asset for a foster kid, even if it was just some jock who was nice to her on the first day of school.

She looked down at the map of the school Booth had given her. She didn't know where he had got it from, but she was without a doubt glad she had it. He had even gone out of his way to find and mark her classes, and sketch the best path from place to place. It was one of those paths that she was now following, and true to his word, she arrived at the door to the art room well within the five minutes provided to get to class.

She walked in, noticing that about half the desks were already occupied, and, like in her anatomy class, grouped into twos. She chose an empty set near the middle, and sat down, waiting for the class to begin. This was probably the only class that she wasn't looking forward to, but it was required by the school in order to graduate. Not that she'd probably be graduating from this school anyway. She didn't think she would even get passed the first semester until Mr. Henson and his wife decided to get rid of her.

By the time the bell rang, the only seat that was still empty was the one next to Brennan. She wasn't disappointed, or surprised at that, but she did feel a pang of loneliness at being the only student without a partner. Just as the teacher was standing up to talk, a tall, thin girl with raven hair, and features with a slight Asian feel to them slipped in the door.

"Sorry I'm late!" She said apologetically.

"It's fine, Ms. Montenegro, just don't let it happen again."

The girl nodded, and scanned the room. Seeing the open seat next to Brennan, she walked over and plopped herself down, casting a brilliant smile towards the quiet looking girl she had sat by.

"I'm Angela, Angela Montenegro." She said with another smile, holding out her hand.

"Temperance Brennan, but you can just call me Brennan." She took Angela's hand and they shook.

"You don't look familiar, are you new here?"

"Yes."

"Cool!"

This confused Brennan. Since when was the new kid cool? She was spared voicing the question by the teacher, Ms. Cob's, voice.

"These will all be your seats for the semester, so go ahead, introduce yourself."

Angela turned towards Brennan again. "Well, looks like we've already done that! What year are you?"

"Junior."

"Cool, me too! What's the rest of your schedule, I want to see if we have any other classes together."

Brennan handed Angela paper that listed her classes.

"We have a lot of classes together, and lunch! Do you have a group to eat with yet?"

"No."

"Well, now you do if you want one! We have the class right before lunch together, so you can join me and my other friends if you want to!"

Brennan was pleasantly surprised Angela had said "other friends" instead of just "friends". She liked Angela, and was elated to find that the other girl already seemed to count he as a friend. It seemed as though the people at this school, unlike those at so many others, were open to new people, and nicer in general. It was a nice change of pace for Brennan, who was used to cold shoulders and rude words.

"Okay, that sounds good!" Brennan smiled.

"Perfect!"

They were interrupted at this point by Ms. Cob, who, like Mr. Stires, began to give the long, boring speech that was a first day of school tradition. The minutes of the hour inched by, and it wasn't long before everyone in the class, including Brennan, were half asleep. Eventually, though, the bell did ring, startling everyone awake and giving them permission to go to their next class. For Brennan and Angela, this meant another class that they both had, and they began the journey to the room together.

"I don't think I'll like that class." Brennan said dully.

"Why not?"

"I'm not very good at creating things. I'm better with things that already exist."

Angela laughed. "I'll help you, then! I've been taking art classes every summer for years!"

"Really? Are you any good?"

She shrugged. "Sorta"

"I find I would like to see one of your pictures." Brennan said, smiling.

"I'll show you at lunch." Angela promised, returning the smile.

"That sounds acceptable."

Angela shook her head, laughing. "Good, sweetie. That sounds good."

"What does?"

This caused Angela to laugh again. "Never mind Bren... never mind..."

The girls reached the class, sitting down next to each other and preparing for the inevitable repeat of the lesson they had just slept through.

* * *

Yeah! It's Angela! We've got more characters coming up soon, so stay tuned and review please!


	5. Chapter 5

The bell rang for lunch, and suddenly the school was abuzz with noise, the students excited to escape dull classes for an hour to eat. Booth scanned the crowds, looking for her. Brennan. He couldn't stop thinking about her. There was just something about her that made her so... Her. He couldn't find the right words. She was beautiful, that was for sure. And smart, _really_ smart. She was funny too once she got comfortable. It was fun to argue with her, even though he knew that he would never be able to win. But she seemed so... sad, and alone. Someone like her shouldn't feel like that. She should feel amazing, and confident, and happy. She wasn't though, and Booth wanted to know why.

"Hey! Cam!" Booth noticed his friend, a small, pretty girl named Camille Saroyan, standing near a vending machine, trying to convince it to give her a bag of chips. He and Cam were neighbors, and had know each other for years. They had dated briefly towards the start of high school, but it had felt awkward for both, and they broke up after about a week, deciding to stay friends instead.

"Hey Seeley, long time no see!"

He laughed. "Don't call me Seeley, and yeah, what's it been? An entire day?"

"Just about." The machine dropped the chips, and Cam stooped to grab them from the bin where they had fallen. "Whats up? You look paranoid." It was true. Booth was glancing around the room, scanning the faces, searching for Brennan.

"Nothing, looking for someone."

"Who?"

"You don't know her."

"Her?" She sounded interested. "Find a reason to break up with Hannah?" Cam disliked Booth's choice in girlfriends, and was always trying to come up with a reason for them to break up.

"Yes she's a she, no I'm not breaking up with Hannah."

"Come on Booth, please!" Cam begged. "That blonde bimbo can hardly even spell her own name."

"Be nice Cam, she isn't that bad."

"Isn't _that _bad?! So you're admitting she's pretty bad?"

Booth shook his head. "Never mind."

"So who are we looking for?"

"Temperance Brennan. She's a junior, new here."

"Ah... and what does Ms. Brennan look like?"

Booth was silent, still scanning the crowd.

"Hello? You in there?" Cam waved a hand in front of his face just as a mass of strong perfume and bleach blonde hair enveloped Booth.

"Booth, baby! Where have you been! I haven't seen you all day!" Hannah screeched, planting a sticky lip gloss-heavy kiss on his cheek.

"I've been busy, sorry." Booth answered distractedly.

"To busy for me?"

"Sorry."

"Or he didn't want to see you..." Cam mumbled under her breath. The comment flew over Hannah's head, but Booth caught it and gave her a disapproving look.

"Booth, what's wrong baby?" Hannah whined, not blind to Booth's blatant indifference.

"Nothing... I'm fine." He finally turned to the girl draped around his neck. "Just distracted."

"Okay baby, I have to go, there's a cheer meet today, I just wanted to say hi to my favorite starting quarterback!"

"He's the only starting quarterback..." Cam mumbled.

"Thanks Hannah!" Booth said, glaring at Cam again. "Have fun at your meeting."

"Okay, bye!" And with that, Hannah flounced off, heading to where ever her meeting was.

Booth wiped the lip gloss smear off his face. "She wears to much of that stuff."

"She wears to much of everything except clothes. She needs more of that." This earned Cam yet another look. "What! It's true!"

"No it's-" Booth broke off. He had just seen a flash of auburn hair out of the corner of his eye. He whipped around, looking for the source of the momentary burst of familiar color.

"What?" Cam started, but Booth was gone, weaving through the crowds and out the door. Cam sighed and followed.

"BOOTH!" She yelled. This caused him to stop momentarily, giving her a chance to catch up to him. "Where are you going?"

"I found her!" He started walking away, Cam falling into step next to him.

"Who?"

"Brennan."

* * *

Well, there's Cam! And Hannah! And a really lame cliff hanger-ish thing! Yay! This is so much fun! I know I probably made Hannah a bit to extreme, but I really didn't like her on the show, so that's what she gets. :) Hodgins and Zack shouldn't be to far in the future! The more you review, the faster it makes me update, so tell me what you think, or what you want to see! Pretty please! :)


	6. Chapter 6

"So," Angela said, leading Brennan over to one of the picnic tables scattered around the school campus. It was towards the back of the school, and tucked slightly between two buildings. "This is Hodgins," She gestured towards a short, boy with curly reddish brown hair. "This is Zack," Now she was pointing at a young, awkward looking boy with messy brown hair that definitely needed a trim. "And this is Sweets." She pointed at a small, pale, scrawny boy with short neat hair. "Boys, this is Brennan. Say hi."

There was a soft chorus of "Hi" and "Hey" from the small group. "_Boys_..." Angela prodded.

This time the hellos seemed more heartfelt, but the boys were still focused more on other things. Hodgins inspecting some sort of insect, Zack reading a thick text book, and Sweets staring into space. "Boys, this is Brennan. She is a girl. A pretty girl." Brennan blushed slightly at that. "Wave." Angela grabbed Zack's hand and waved it around, trying to inspire voluntary movement.

"We heard you the first time." Zack said in an emotionless voice, not looking up from his book.

"I know, but you didn't respond so I tried again."

"We responded!" Hodgins defended, looking up from his bug. "You just didn't like it."

"No. I didn't. Because I could have gotten a better greeting from a drunk homeless man." Angela's voice was sweet, and almost motherly, despite the words.

Now Sweets looked up. "Hello Brennan. I'm Lance Sweets. You can call me Sweets. Welcome to our group of odd misfits."

Angela rolled her eyes. "At least it's something." She murmured, mainly to herself.

Brennan looked at the odd group of friends. "Why are you all friends? It seems rather unlikely."

"We're abnormal. We have to band together, right?" Zack said, finally raising his eyes from the printed words to look at Brennan.

"Yeah," Sweets added. "Where else are we going to go?"

Brennan shrugged. "I'm usually alone."

This simple statement seemed to stun the rest into silence.

"Really?" Angela asked. "You don't seem like you stick out that much."

"I'm a foster kid." Brennan stated. "'Sticking out' as you say is our specialty."

The conversation was cut short as a new person joined the little group.

"Hey Brennan! How's it going?" Booth said, slinging an arm around her shoulders, and smiling broadly at her.

"Not too bad as far as first days go. This is Angela, Zack, Hodgins, and Sweets, my friends." She pointed at each person as she said their name. "Guys, this is Booth."

"Booth?" Hodgins asked. "As in _Booth, _Booth?"

"Yes, I think so, why does saying his name twice have any effect?"

"Because..." Angela started. "Because it just does, Sweetie."

"That doesn't make sense."

"Never mind. How do you to know each other?"

They both started talking at once.

"He's in my anatomy class."

"We have first hour together."

"Maybe only one of you should talk, we can't understand you when you talk at the same time." Zack offered dully, his nose once again buried in his book.

"He's in my anatomy class." Brennan repeated.

"First hour." Booth added. "Ran into each other."

"Quite literally. Then he wouldn't leave me alone." She glared slightly at him.

Booth held up his hand defensively. "But now we're friends, so it doesn't matter!"

Brennan rolled her eyes.

"Oh!" Booth said suddenly, remembering Cam, who had followed him to Brennan's table. "This is my friend Cam."

There was a gentle murmur of greeting, very similar to that received by Brennan.

"Hi," Angela said, her voice louder than those of the boys sitting at the table. "Don't mind them, they're... them."

Cam laughed. "No problem... Angela, was it?"

"Yep. Angela Montenegro."

"Nice to meet you." Cam smiled at the pretty, dark haired girl.

"So...mind if we sit?" Booth asked, feeling slightly awkward.

"Sure, feel free!" Angela said, sitting down herself, and motioning for Brennan, Cam, and Booth to do the same. They did, Brennan sitting next to Angela, Booth next to Brennan, and Cam across from Booth, next to Zack. There were a few moments of silence, no one sure what to say.

"What are you reading?" Cam asked, the question directed obviously towards Zack, the only one with an open book.

"A book about the human skeletal structure."

"What about it?" Brennan asked, excited.

"The bones, their placement, how they're attached, what they do, what it takes to fracture, or break different ones. This chapter is on the arm."

"Oh! I know all about that! My father taught me about them when I was young. There's the distal, intermediate, and proximal phalanges, metacarpals, carpals, ulna, radius, and humerus." She recited, pointing at each bone in her own arm as she named it. "And then, there's the-"

"Whoa there, Bones, wait for the rest of us to catch up!" Booth inturruped, obviously amazed.

"Did you just call me Bones?"

"Yeah, I think I did, _Bones_."

"Don't call me that."

"Why not, _Bones_?"

"Because."

"Because what? _Bones._"

"Just... Because! It's a horrible nickname!"

"Well, I think it's perfect! _Bones._ Yeah, it fits." Booth was smiling broadly now.

"Booth..." Brennan whined.

"Bones..." Booth replied in the same voice.

"Well, if we're now assigning nicknames based on what we know well, the I should call you Football."

"You can't name someone Football!"

"Why not? You named me Bones!"

"Yeah, but Bones is Bones, and Football is... football."

"That doesn't make sense."

"Yes it does!"

"No it doesn't! You can't just say that something is itself and call it reasoning!"

"Yes you can, I just did!"

Brennan studied his smiling face for a moment before shaking her head. "You're impossible."

The five others at the table stared slack-jawed at the exchange between the two. They had known each other for just a few hours, but they were acting as if they'd know each other a lifetime. They argued back and forth easily, poking and prodding at each other, but never pushing to far. It was amazing.

"What?" Booth said, noticing the shocked faces surrounding him and Brennan. No reply. "What?!"

"You've known each other for how long?" Angela asked.

"Since first hour." Booth answered.

"Today?"

"Yeah..."

"Wow... just... wow..."

"I find that I am confused by this situation." Brennan said, looking around the table.

"Well Bones, apparently they don't believe that we've only known each other since this morning."

"That's preposterous! When else would we have met?"

"No idea! Ask them!" Booth motioned to the rest of the table.

Brennan just shook her head slightly, and began to eat her lunch. "Booth?"

"Yeah?"

"Don't call me Bones."

* * *

So now we have Zack, (I loved him! Why did he have to go psycho!?) Hodgins, and Sweets. Pretty much the whole gang is together! Yay! Let me know if you have any requests!

You know, when I started this, I told myself that I wasn't going to beg readers for reviews, because I sometimes find them a bit annoying. Now that I'm actually writing and posting, I see why people put them in there. I LIVE FOR REVIEWS! Thank you to everyone who has reviewed already, I LOVE YOU ALL! :)


	7. Chapter 7

"So..." Cam said, bumping Booth's shoulder as they walked towards their next class, which was English for both.

"Yeah...?"

"Brennan, huh?"

"What about her?"

"You like her."

"Yeah, she's cool, a bit weird, but I like her." Booth smiled slightly, then frowned at the look on Cam's face. "As a friend, Cam. A friend."

"Liar." Cam said, grinning happily. "You'll be breaking up with Hannah any day now!"

"Cam..."

"Ha! You're not denying it!"

Booth opened his mouth to defend himself, but was cut off by a terrified shrieking from directly behind him.

"YOU'RE BREAKING UP WITH ME?!" Hannah screeched.

"Wha- No!" Booth was caught off guard.

"Yes you are! I heard you talking about it just now!"

"No you didn't!"

"So now I'm a liar?"

"No, but-"

"Just stop, Seeley. We're done. I don't know why I even stayed with you for this long."

She shoved him as hard as she could, which was not very hard, and stormed off, leaving a stunned Booth in her wake.

Cam smiled. "You're welcome."

"Thanks." His voice held a bitter, sarcastic tone.

"Come on, you couldn't have liked her _that _much."

"maybe, but what if I did?"

"Well, I know you didn't, and if you had actually liked her I would have put up with her."

Booth had to accept this, because he knew it to be true. Cam could definitely get rid of people she didn't like, bit she would never permanently damage a relationship she knew Booth really cared about.

Booth shook his head. "Yeah, I know. I'll probably be thanking you before too long."

Cam smiled even brighter. "Knew it."

Booth rolled his eyes at her, earning him a light, joking punch from Cam.

"So..." She started again. "You and Brennan?"

"We're friends, Cam. Friends. Besides, you would probably break us up too if we were dating."

Cam laughed. "No I wouldn't! I like her!"

Booth gave her a skeptical look.

"Well, I wouldn't be her best friend, but she's miles better than Hannah."

"Really? She doesn't bug you?"

"Nope!"

"Really?"

"Really!

"Not at all...?"

"Nope!"

"Cam..."

"OK, maybe a little. But she's not that bad. Honest!"

"Yeah... I'll take that." Booth said, smiling.

"You really like her though, don't you?"

"Yeah... I don't know what it is but we just... connect. Ya know?"

"Mm-hm." She seemed to be holding back giggles.

"Seriously!"

"Yeah, I know. You two at lunch..."

"What do you mean, 'you two at lunch'?"

"It was weird... like you'd known each other for ages instead of hours."

"Yeah... It is weird... I feel the same way."

"The same way?"

"Like I've know her forever."

Cam gave him her best- "Yeah right..." look.

"I know! It sounds cliché, and lame, but it's true!"

"Whatever, Booth..."

"I'm serious!"

"I know, but still..."

Booth shook his head, thinking about what Cam had said. Him and Bones... dating... He smiled softly. That wasn't a half bad idea...

* * *

I'm back! Sorry it's sort of been a while, life got in the way. Sorry about how short this chapter is too, but don't worry, the next one will be longer. :)

I know I got rid of Hannah really fast, but she was kinda annoying, and I wanted her to go away. Sorry if you wanted their little relationship to last longer. But hey! Chapter 7! What do you think? Any questions? Comments? Concerns?


	8. Chapter 8

**I'm back! And I bring a new chapter! Yeah! I just wanted to take a moment before the actual story to thank all of the lovely people who have reviewed this story so far,**

**-Jenny1701**

**-Lliaaame**

**-chrissym453**

**-SheJustDoesn'tKnowItYet**

**-GreyHorseRanger01**

**-GyMusicAddict**

**-KarmaComesBackAround**

**-dandapanda**

**-Dyna63**

**-someonetookMe**

**-Someoneslove**

**-And all of the non-member reviewers.**

** You all get 200 points. What points do, I don't know. I think they're just going to sit there. Like in ****_Who's Line is it Anyway_****! *instert lame joke about useless point system* (That will only make since if you've seen that show.) Anyway... You guys rock! And haha, and my computer thinks all of your usernames are spelled wrong :P**

**Just to answer a few questions/comments real quick: **

**This is completely AU, I'm just using the characters and a few lines. I own nothing. (Of course)**

**The school they are all attending is also part of my over-active imagination.**

**The only reason Hannah is still alive is because the gang doesn't have much experience with committing and covering up murder yet ;)**

**And... that's about it. Moving on. Enjoy. :)**

* * *

For Brennan, school ended earlier than it should have. She had never felt so... happy ever since her parents went missing. Happy... It was an odd feeling for her. Temperance Brennan didn't spend much of her time being happy. Usually, she was too busy studying, or avoiding foster parents to be happy. _Maybe this one will be different. _She thought, walking towards the Henson's house. _Maybe..._

Brennan reached the small, two story home tucked between another, lager house, and an expansive, green park dotted heavily with tall oak trees. The house it's self had a beaten, run down look to it. It was covered in a thin layer of blue-green pain that had probably been lightened by years upon years of being exposed to the sun. The porch sagged slightly in the middle and in one corner the wood, which had once stood straight and proud with its white paint, was now rotting and peeling. Brennan climbed up the short set of stairs that led to a front door that hung a bit off it's hinges. Wood creaked softly under her too-big boots, and the door squeaked hauntingly as she sung it open.

_Nobody's home, _She realized as she steeped into the front room. Years in the system had conditioned her well to certain things. Knowing when someone's about to hit you a second before it happens. Making an apology sound sincere, and heartfelt when it really wasn't in the slightest. Knowing if anyone was home just by walking through the door. Brennan caught the door just before it slammed shut out of habit, and walked up the narrow staircase to her temporary bedroom with silent steps. The third, fifth, and seventh steps squeaked atrociously. She filed that fact away in her mind, knowing that it would most likely come in handy in the future.

She made it to her room, which was tucked back in a corner of the house, far from the room where Mr. Henson and his wife slept. It was small, with a window that showed the tiny, mess of a backyard. She glanced out the window, looking down to the escape route she had found a few days earlier when she first moved in. The panels on the house stuck out just enough so that they could serve as hand and footholds, and there was a fat window box that she could use as well. That was one thing she always looked for in every foster home, no matter how nice the people seemed. It nearly almost came in handy in one way or another, and Brennan was sure that it would become vital in this home too. She walked away from the window, and sank onto the tiny bed crammed in a corner of the room. The bed springs squeaked loudly as she sat.

Brennan stared blankly at the yellowish wall in front of her, thinking. Thinking about foster homes, and foster parents, and the fact that in one year, two months, and fourteen days, she would be eighteen years old, and free from the system. She thought about school, and collage, and her future, and hoped that she would be able to even get into a collage since she had no money to pay for it. She thought about her new high school, and Zack, and Hodgins, and Sweets, and Angela, and Cam, and Booth. Booth. She couldn't figure him out. Brennan wasn't very good with people, but she could figure them out sometimes. She knew Zack was an awkward genius, much like her, and Hodgins was smart, and seemed to be rather irritable. She had noticed that Sweets was quiet, and polite, and could understand people, and seen that Angela was friendly, confident, and artsy. Cam was loyal to her friends, intelligent, and athletic. But Booth... She couldn't figure him out. He was smart sometimes, and not smart sometimes. Quite often, he was infuriatingly obnoxious, but not to the point where Brennan didn't want to spend time with him. He was popular, but not big headed and self centered like so many popular people were. He was... Booth. There was no other way to describe him.

He was... Boothy. Yes, that was it. He was Boothy. Brennan smiled to herself- a real smile that almost never came out anymore. It was a smile that lit up her usually sad face, and made her eyes sparkle even more brilliantly than they usually did. The smile only lasted a moment though as Brennan's train of thought was interrupted by the sound of a slamming door and heavy footsteps marching up creaky stairs. She jumped up, running to the window, moving to open it and climb to safety. Her shaking fingers lifted the latch, and gripped the edge of the sill, pulling up, lifting-

But no. The glass of the window wasn't moving. The damn thing was jammed! Probably rusted shut! She had checked for an escape route, but not checked to see if the window would actually open!She cursed her own stupidity, pulling even harder. The door slammed open with a loud BANG, and Mr. Henson stood there, looking absolutely livid.

"_You._" He hissed, glaring at the young helpless girl standing by the window.

"Please-" She tried to say, but was cut off as he threw the first punch.

* * *

**Oh no! Poor Brennan... :( I feel bad for writing that now... It'll get better soon though! Don't give up on me! Oh, and review! Please!**


	9. Chapter 9

Yeah! Another chapter! I'm going to skip most of the intro junk (It'll be at the end) and just get right onto the story, so goodbye, and enjoy! :)

* * *

The next morning wasn't as hectic as the one previous had been in the Booth house. The first day of school excitement had worn off already, reveling a pair of teenage boys who were already low on sleep.

"Mornin' Pops." Booth said tiredly, dragging himself into the kitchen.

"Good morning Shrimp!" The old man replied cheerfully, setting a plate of food down in front of Booth. "You got up early enough to eat!"

"Mm-Hm," Booth mumbled, his mouth filled to the brim. "Fanks" A small chuck of egg fell from his mouth as he attempted to talk.

"Don't talk with your mouth full." His grandfather, Hank, reprimanded. "And slow down for Christ's sake, you'll choke."

Booth managed to swallow. "Sorry."

They were interrupted by Jared, who walked into the kitchen with about as much energy as Booth had had. He sat down at the table, and Hank placed a plate of food in front of him as well. He simply poked at the eggs, bacon, and toast with a fork, not wanting to be awake quite yet. The pair of Booth boys sat in silence for a few moments, Booth eating and Jared rearranging his food.

"If you want a ride I'm leaving early, so hurry up." Booth told his brother, scraping the last bits of food from his plate and licking the bacon grease off his fingers.

"Wha-? Why?" Jared was obviously still not awake.

"'Cus I want to!"

"You? Get to school early? Are you feeling alright Shrimp?"

"Yes, Pops, I'm fine. I just want to talk to my friends!"

"...Alright... You sure you're ok?"

"Yeah, I'm sure. You ready Jar?*"

"Almost," The young boy mumbled through the food he was hurriedly shoving in his mouth. "Give me a sec."

"Ok, I'll be in the truck."

Booth grabbed his bag and walked out the front door, climbing into the vehicle, starting the engine, and waiting for his brother. He knew it was weird for him to leave early- he was usually late- but Brennan... Bones, he reminded himself, smiling. He wanted to see her again. She seemed to be the type to get to school early, so he left early as to meet her. He hadn't told Jared and Pops about her- not yet. He wanted to get to know her better first. He wanted to introduce her as his friend, not just some random girl. Jared, apparently done with breakfast, came out of the small, one story house the pair called home. It was a nice house; they kept up with the yard work, repainted what needed to be repainted, fixed whatever needed fixing. It was small, but homey, and comfortable-looking.

"Ready?" Booth asked as his brother took his normal seat next to him.

"Uh, yeah, that's why I came out here." Jared sounded annoyed, obviously not happy with being rushed.

Booth raised his eyebrows. "Ok then..." He pulled the car into reverse and out of the drive way, and headed off for the second day of high school.

~B&B~

She wasn't there. She should have been there, but she wasn't. He paced from the main gate to the anatomy class to where they had all eaten lunch yesterday, and back again. She was no where to be found. No where. But she had to be- she was perfectly fine yesterday, had even planed to see him tomorrow. _But where the hell was she!_

"CAM!" He saw his friend on her way... somewhere. Somewhere that she was no longer headed.

"Hey Seeley, whats up?"

"Don't call me Seeley, have you seen Bones?"

"Bones?" She looked confused.

"Yeah..."

"Oh! Brennan!"

"Yeah, have you seen her?"

"Not today, no... Why?"

"She said she'd be here..."

"She's fine, Booth, don't worry."

"I have to worry, she's my friend."

"Booth..."

"I know Cam, but something just... doesn't feel right..."

"Don't worry."

"I'm trying."

"I know."

"Hey!" Booth saw a flash of long raven hair out of the corner of his eye. "God, what was her name?"

"Who?"

"The dark haired girl from yesterday."

"Angela?"

Yeah! That's it! ANGELA!"

The girl whipped around at the sound of her name being yelled. "Booth?"

"Yeah, have you seen Bones?"

"No, not since yesterday, why?"

"He can't find her." Cam supplied.

"Really? That's weird, she said she'd get here early."

Booth knew he'd been right about that. "She did?"

"Yeah, you haven't seen her either?"

"No, I'm worried about her..."

"Why?"

"I don't know, something doesn't feel right..."

~B&B~

Booth was on edge all day. Brennan didn't show up in first hour, or at lunch, or at the end of the day. Neither Cam, or Angela had seen her either. Booth was definitely worried. He hadn't known her for very long, but there were a few things he knew for sure about Brennan. She was tough. She couldn't be sidelined easily. She would fight with everything she had in her to do what she wanted to do. And she would not miss school, especially the second day, because of a cold, or stubbed toe. There was something wrong, and Booth wanted to find out what it was.

He couldn't, though. He didn't know where she lived, he didn't have her phone number- nothing. All he could do was wait it out, and hope she would be back at school the next day. _She will be... _Booth told himself, the words that were echoing around his skull. _She has to be... _

* * *

Soooo... *Does that cute little twisty dance thing little kids do when they want something* What'd ya think? :) I know, Booth hasn't come to the rescue yet, but I have a plan my lovelies... a half formed plan, but a plan none the less :) I just hit the 40-review mark! YEAH! (Thank you, Hollywood366) :) All you people are awesome :) But... lets see... How about... every reviewer gets 50 pointless points! Yeah, that'll work! So, if you really care, and want me to update fast, review! PLEASE! K' thanks. :)

(And by the way- I'm not keeping track of these points for y'all, so if you really care you can keep track yourself. If you couldn't care less about my stupid little point system, that works to. Whatever floats you boat. Guess what floats my boat? Reviews! Don't let me sink! I'm to young to die! *Pretends to faint*)

I'm being really theatrical today, huh? Oh well, I'm a freak, what can I say :) I love you all! :)


	10. Chapter 10

I'm sooooo sorry it's taken me so long to update! Finals, Christmas presents, decorating, AAAHHHH! To much stuff to do! Anyway, I'm on winter break now, so expect more updates more often! Yay! :) Oh, and thank you for getting me past the 50 review mark! You guys rock!

* * *

Brennan sat up, closing her eyes at the bright ray of light that fell across her bruised face. There was a jack hammer pounding her skull, and she couldn't see save for the tiny swelled slits her eyes had become. She straightened her spine, wincing as a sharp pain speared through her. Broken ribs. Bruised and swollen face. What felt like a fractured wrist from trying to defend herself. Shakily, she got to her feet and inched down the stairs. She was alone- Mr. Henson was probably at work and his wife was probably sleeping off a hangover in some crappy motel on the other side of town. Brennan reached the bottom of the staircase and headed for the kitchen. With any luck, she could ice her injuries and be back at school within a day or two.

After making her ice pack, Brennan headed back up stairs, walking gingerly so as not to disturb her broken body. She inched into the bathroom, wanting to examine her injuries more thoroughly. One glance in the cloudy mirror told her more than she needed to know. She face was completely black and blue and crusty blood lined the left edge. What she could see of her arms matched her face. Brennan lifted her shirt to just below the bottom of her bra. Her stomach and rib cage were bruised and covered with more dry blood. Carefully, she lifted her shirt the rest of the way off, and reached for a washcloth that hung on the back of the door. Brennan then proceeded to rid herself of the grime and blood that was caked onto her skin before opening the medicine cabinet and beginning her search for disinfectant and gauze rap. Her search proved successful, and Brennan did what she could to better her wounds. Feeling that there was no more to be done, she gently slid her shirt back over her head and made her way back to her bedroom. Just the simple act of cleaning herself up had seemed to have used up every ounce of energy she had, and she had no choice but to lay back down on the old, now bloodstained mattress and fall back asleep.

~B&B~

Brennan still wasn't there. It had been two days. She still wasn't there. Something had to be wrong. It had to! She couldn't just disappear! Could she? Booth shook his head. No, she couldn't. She had to come back, and if she didn't come back soon- Well, if she didn't come back soon Booth would have to do something about that. He would have to interfere. But how... He didn't know anything about her, her phone number, address, email, anything. He had nothing.

Booth didn't know why he cared either. She was just a girl. Not even his girlfriend! And he had only known her for a day! Why did he care? Why did he care so much that he couldn't even focus on anything anymore?! He was already forgetting about assignments, zoning out in class, at home, and even during football practice! He had never felt like that before, never had one person occupy his mind so... fully. Completely. Every waking moment was spent thinking about her, and even his dreams were plagued by the thought of her. Trapped. Alone. Kidnapped. Hurt. Dying. Dead. But she wasn't. Was she? There had been nothing on the news about a kidnapping, so he doubted that was it. Nothing about a body being found, so she was probably still alive. But where was she?

"Booth? Booth? Boooooth...?"

He was acutely aware of someone calling his name.

"Boooooooooooth...? BOOTH!"

He snapped out of his daze.

"Wha..."

Angela was staring at him from across the table that was now his and Cam's regular lunch spot. As it turned out, the group was not as hard to interact with as Booth and Cam first thought. Angela and Hodgins weren't to weird, and even though Hodgins turned out to have a strange fascination with bugs and conspiracy theories, he could hold a decent conversation. Sweets was quiet, but he too could be good for a conversation as long as you didn't mind said conversation turning into a discussion with the worlds youngest shrink. Zack was a different story. He seemed to be some sort of a cross between someone who had been living under a rock their whole life, a genius, and a child. Booth couldn't stand the kid, but Cam seemed to get along rather nicely with him.

They're new-found friendship was not perfect by any means. In fact, Booth was annoyed by most of the little group, only being able to stand Angela all of the time, and Hodgins and Sweets on occasion. He could not, under any circumstances, stand Zack. He knew Brennan was socially awkward, but Zack- he was in a league of his own. He was completely clueless! Booth couldn't stand talking to him, so he didn't. He used Zack's love of anthropology, a love shared by Booth's beloved Brennan, against him, convincing the brilliant boy that not talking to him was a special "male bonding ritual". Booth had a reason to ignore Zack, and Zack didn't put up a fight! It was perfect! Cam, who got along with Zack on some level, always reprimanded him, but not talking to Zack?! It was worth it.

Cam got along with the gang much better that Booth did for the most part. Angela was easy to get along no matter who you were, so their connection wasn't a surprise, but what really shocked Booth was how Cam was with everyone else. She was able to at least relate to everyone, talk about bug and debate shadow-y government agencies with Hodgins, contemplate the mysteries of high schoolers with Sweets- What was even more amazing, at least in Booth's opinion, was what she could do with Zack. She could actually understand his scientific mumbo-jumbo, and respond in an equal amount of unfamiliar words. She seemed to actually like the kid!

"You okay there Studly?"

As soon as Angela had gotten over the original shock at having the most popular, and albeit- the hottest person in the school eat lunch with her, Hodgins, Sweets, and Zack, she had developed a fun, flirty personality that had turned out to be quite infectious.

"I'm just worried abut Bones." He bit of a piece of french fry, chewing halfheartedly.

"We're all worried about her," Angela consoled. "She'll be back soon though, don't worry."

"I know, but I'm still worried."

Angela reached out, putting her hand on Booth's strong forearm. "I know, Booth. She's fine though, I promise."

"You don't know that though." Zack said, butting into the conversation. "You have no evidence to prove that Brennan is fine or not so you can't really give a valid promise one way or the other."

Booth put his head in his hand, rubbing his temples.

"Zack," Angela said patiently, "I don't need evidence. Brennan is fine."

"You don't know that..." Zack mumbled, turning back to his food.

"Yeah, we do." Booth cut in. "She's fine. She'll be back soon. She will."

* * *

Hang on, Hang on! Don't come charging with your pitch forks yet! Booth will come to the rescue soon! I think... Don't worry though! It'll be worth the wait! I promise! :) Anyway, Merry Christmas! Hope you have a good day and all that stuff! You know what would be a GREAT Christmas present for me?! That's right! Reviews! I love you all! You're all amazing!


	11. Chapter 11

Hey! I'm back again! I'm SOOOO sorry- I promised you new chapters, and then left you hanging. I guess I've had more to do than I thought I did... That, and I'm suffering from an acute case of writer's block. :( So... yeah. Don't worry though! I won't give up on you! It may take me forever between chapters, but they will get there eventually, and I will try to make them the best I can. (Sorry the last chapter was kinda crap by the way...) I hope you all had a good New Year's! 2013! WOOHOO! I've made it my new years resolution to update more often, so I'll try to stick to that for ya. :) Well, I think that's enough of me, so onto the story! Yay! :)

* * *

Brennan stood in the tired bathroom in the Henson's house, looking at her reflection. The bruises on her face had faded to where they could easily be concealed with a layer or two of make-up, but her arms, which had received harder hits, were still black and blue. _I could go back to school today. _Brennan thought happily, the decision already made. A long sleeve shirt would cover her arms well enough, and as long as she was careful, her yet-to-be-healed ribs wouldn't hurt too much. She was used to being in pain- a few years in the foster system, and it was nothing more than routine. Turning from the girl in the mirror, Brennan headed back to her room to get dressed, only to return a moment later, this time with a small make-up kit given to her by a family about a year ago. She had only been with that family for around a month more before she moved on to a new home- one where Brennan got a lot of practice covering bruises with make-up.

It wasn't long before Brennan had gotten herself ready and left for what would be her second, and everyone else's fourth day. As she set off, she thought, not for the first time, of the friends she had found at this new school, and if they would even remember her. She thought of Booth- the football star that every girl wanted, and who, for some reason, cared about her. Being cared for was not something that Brennan was very familiar with, but she liked it. She liked the thought that if she moved somewhere new, or if Mr. Henson got mad and killed her that someone would notice and ask about her, or maybe even cry at her funeral.

~B&B~

Booth was at school early again. He had been yesterday too. If there was a chance that Brennan would be there, he would be there. However, it seemed not to be working yet again, as he had yet to see even a hint of the girl he was trying so hard to find. He was getting worried- really, _really_ worried. This would be the third day that Bones would be absent from school. _What was wrong?_

Booth whipped around, his dark, chocolatey brown eyes searching the throngs of students milling about. Had his mind been playing tricks on him, or had he just gotten a glimpse of that familiar auburn hair he had been missing so much these last few days? Yes! There it was again! Booth's heart started to pound, and his feet began to move without his permission, carrying him towards the girl who hadn't left his thoughts at all in the last few days.

"Hey! Bones!"

The girl stopped and turned around, and Booth's eyes were instantly drawn to those of the girl standing in front of him, the rich, bright blue nearly stunning him into silence.

"Hey Bones," He said, trying to sound nonchalant, "Where've you been?"

"Sick." Her reply was quick, and Booth saw through the lie easily.

"Sick?"

"Yes."

He deiced to play along. "What did you have?"

"Stomach flu."

"Ew, that's nasty. Glad you're back though! We've missed you!"

"We?"

"Yeah, me, Cam, Angela, the squints-"

"What are squints?"

"You know, those science-y types- Hodgins Zack- they squint at things."

"I don't think that's the proper name for them, Booth."

"Yes it is!" He smiled broadly.

"No it's not! They're aspiring scientists. You may need to seek help if you actually think-" She caught a glimpse of Booth's laughing face. "Oh, you were being facetious. I see, that was quite humorous!"

"Uh huh..."

"Yes! It was! Because you were pretending to be unintelligent, when in all actuality you are of average intelligence, in order to-"

He cut her off. "_Average _intelligence?"

"Yes. You are not mentally slow, and are not a genius like I am, so that would make you average."

Booth shook his head. "Look Bones, I am a lot of things, but 'average' is not one of them."

"It's not an insult, Booth, having average intelligence is very good."

"But still... _average... _I don't like how it sounds..."

"That is an extremely irrational."

"So?"

Now it was Brennan who shook her head. "You're insufferable."

~B&B~

Booth and Brennan's anatomy class passed uneventfully and Brennan, despite having missed the last two days, was miles ahead of the rest of the class. Booth wasn't surprised. He had named her Bones for a reason. Mr. Stires however, was _extremely_ impressed by his youngest student's knowledge of his subject. So impressed, in fact, that once he sent the class on independent work, he hovered over her, not leaving her alone for fa minute.

"Mr. Stires, I really don't think that we need your assistance." Brennan said, gesturing to herself and Booth. "I am more than competent in the subject, and I can help Booth if he so requires."

"Oh, I know you are Ms. Brennan."

"Then why are you still here?"

The older man was taken aback by her bluntness. "I was just making sure that you understand all of the material you've missed."

"I can assure you, I am perfectly fine."

"Ok then..."

Mr. Stires then proceeded to pace the room, crossing by Brennan and Booth's table far more then necessary. Brennan was the first one done, and it took Mr. Stires about a second to snatch up her paper to check. As he reviewed what was probably the most accurate high school paper he had ever, and would ever check, Brennan turned to help Booth, who was struggling with what to Brennan was the simple task of describing the location of 25 bones.

"The cervical vertebrae are... here?" Booth gestured to his lower back.

"No, they're the ones in the back of your neck." Brennan pointed out the place on herself, wincing as her ribs were forced to move against their will. "Here."

"Oh..." Booth scribbled something about the neck on his paper, not noticing the quick look of pain that had crossed his friend's face.

"And the sphenoid...?

"Where do you think?"

"It's in the head, right?"

"Yes. Here." She pointed to the side of her eye, being careful this time not to disturb her sore sides. "It's part of the orbital cavity."

"Ok..." More scribbles.

"Well, Ms. Brennan," Mr. Stires interrupted. "It seems you do have a basic knowledge of the bones in the human body, Well done." He passed her paper back to her, and a glance over it proved it to be free of the red ink that marked most papers.

"Thank you." Brennan replied coldly.

Sensing her hostility, Mr. Stires turned and walked away.

"I have more than a 'basic understanding' of the human skeletal structure..." Brennan mumbled to no one in particular.

"Yeah, I know. Help? Please? Bones?"

Brennan smiled. "What do you think I've been doing, Booth?"

"Helping me; I'm just making sure you weren't changing your mind."

Brennan shook her head. "Of course I haven't. There would be no point in that."

Booth smiled. "So... The scapula... That's a shoulder blade, right?"

"Yes, very good Booth."

He grinned again and wrote the words on the page. "And I'm done!" He said happily.

"Good job, Booth. You still need to study though, you wouldn't have been able to do that without me."

Booth shot her a look. "Yeah, thanks for the confidence boost there, Bones."

The bell rang, and Brennan slipped her pen into her bag, preparing to leave for her next class.

"You're welcome. Goodbye."

She turned and walked out of the room. Booth shook his head. She was tactless, socially awkward, too smart for her own good, infuriating, and drove him absolutely nuts. Boy had he missed her...

* * *

You know what I'm going to say... But I'm going to be annoying and say it anyway. REVIEW! REVIEW! REVIEW! :) The more reviews, the more motivated I am to update sooner! So, yeah. REVIEW! Please? 200 points to all reviews? That ok for ya? :) 'Kay thanks. Bye :)


	12. Chapter 12

Hey! I'm back again! I didn't even make you wait too long! :) I made a few minor adjustments to the last few chapters,- Nothing that you'd really miss, but a few little thing some of my wonderful reviews have pointed out that I wanted to fix. No need to re-read them unless you really want to :) I'm finding this rather ironic how I told you that updates wouldn't be coming too often, and then I update right away... Ah well, I don't think you'll complain :) Enjoy :)

(Ps- I used a lot of smiley faces in that, didn't I?)

Moving on.

* * *

"Sweetie!"

Brennan whirled around at the sound of her friend's voice. "Angela, hello!"

Angela walked across the art room, moving to give Brennan a hug. "Where have you been?"

"Sick."

Angela released her friend, studying her face for a moment, not believing her. "Really? What did you have?"

"Stomach flu."

"Oh, that's not fun." She let Brennan think she believed the obvious lie.

"No, it was not particularly enjoyable."

"Well, you haven't missed much."

"That is good. I'm not overly competent in art."

Angela laughed, "Don't worry, I'll help you if you need it."

"I probably will," Brennan said with a light chuckle.

"You'll be fine, it isn't that hard."

The bell rang, and Brennan and Angela made their way back to their seats. Ms. Cob instructed them to begin the mini-project that would take up the next few days- an illustration of their favorite memory. The majority of the class thought for a moment before beginning to sketch the outlines of their drawing, having no problem finding a happy memory. Brennan however, was stumped. Her favorite memory... There was, of course, her newest foster home, where she had already been beaten to a pulp. Or she could draw a picture of the tiny, cramped, dirty room her foster brother had locked her in where her absence hadn't been noticed for two days. Or maybe Christmas morning all those years ago when she had come down stairs to see piles of presents, and smell breakfast, and believe that her parents were back- only to see her brother standing in the kitchen flipping pancakes. Lovely memories indeed. She looked over to Angela who was busy drawing the outline of a man holding a guitar.

"My dad," She explained. "At a concert a few years ago."

Brennan nodded and looked at her still-blank paper.

"What, can't think of anything?"

"No... I seem to be having trouble choosing a memory..."

"Too many to pick from?"

Brennan gave a soft noise that could be taken for either a yes or a no.

"Come on, Bren, just pick one. When in doubt, whatever sounds the easiest to draw." The dark haired girl smiled at her friend, and reached down between their seats to grab an eraser from her bag. On her way back up, her shoulder nudged Brennan's elbow, making her draw in a breath as a short burst of pain danced across her body.

"You okay Bren?"

"Yes, fine." Brennan tried to breath shallowly without alerting Angela to her discomfort.

"You sure?" Between Brennan's mysterious disappearance, her lame excuse as to where she had been, and the pained tone her voice had taken on, she was starting to get very concerned for her new friend. Something had to be going on that she wasn't sharing...

"Yes. I tripped when I was walking to school, must have bruised something." Another lame excuse.

"Hmm." Angela gave the girl next to her a concerned look before going back to her picture. Brennan looked back at the blank page in front of her again. Then, smiling, she began to sketch, adding enough detail for her to plan out the picture, but not enough so that Angela could make sense of it. She wanted it to be a surprise, and as long as she could pull the complex drawing off without enlisting Angela's help, it would be.

~B&B~

It wasn't long before lunch rolled around, and Brennan found herself, once again, in the company of Angela, Zack, Hodgins, Sweets, Cam, and, of course, Booth. Brennan sat in silent amazement at how well everyone got along, especially after only knowing each other for four days. Brennan herself was no expert in human interactions, but she had gotten a lot of practice observing them. In the past, she had simply sat on the sidelines, watching the different groups found in high schools reacted with each other, turning it into a private lesson in her preferred field of study, anthropology. The interactions between the high school social classes, as she found, were quite similar to the social classes of many ancient societies. What made her little group so interesting, was that they broke the hold of what was considered normal.

Booth, normally, would be on top. The most respected, most loved, most popular. He would, in most cases, be able to go where ever he pleased, which in normal circumstances would consist of being in the center of a metaphorical ring of admiring cheerleaders, and fellow athletes. However, Booth choose to surround himself with the little group of oddballs Brennan associated as her friends. Angela, granted, could easily have fit in with the popular crowd, but she chose not to. Zack barley fit in with the group despite the fact that they were the misfits. He was brilliant, awkward, and honest to a fault. Far to open, and a vocabulary ten sizes too big, but still possessing a sort of lost puppy dog quality that made him impossible to leave on his own. Hodgins was brilliant too, but spent the vast majority of his time coming up with wack-job conspiracy theories about non-existent government spy organizations. He had a short temper, and liked to provoke people to what was nearly the brink of madness. Sweets was quiet, and often sat observing, like Brennan was doing at the moment, taking in the interactions between the strange cast of characters. He liked to analyze people, and often drove Booth crazy with his habit of quietly telling people _why _they did this or that a certain way. Cam was different from all of them, but at the same time had something in common with everybody. She was socially capable like Angela, had a love for human anatomy like Brennan and Zack, could keep up a healthy argument with Hodgins, and was able to analyze people in a way similar to Sweets. It was really quite amazing that they hadn't all killed each other yet.

"Hey Bones, why aren't you eating anything?" Booth asked, biting into the rubbery mess the school marketed as a hamburger.

"I'm not hungry." Brennan lied. She was hungry- starving in fact, but she couldn't pack a lunch, and had no money to buy anything, so she went without food. It wasn't bad once she got used to not eating much.

"How can you not be hungry?"

"I have already ingested an amount of food that was sufficient enough to keep my body appropriately nourished-" Booth cut her off.

"Okay! Okay! I get it, not hungry, but come on, Bones! You gotta eat something!"

"Even if I _was _hungry, I didn't bring anything to eat."

"You can have some of my fries, I'm not going to eat 'em all."

"You sure?" She eyed the food, unsure of his sincerity.

"Yeah, help yourself!"

She gingerly reached out, careful not to jostle her ribs or to look like she was trying not to jostle her ribs, took a fry, dipping it in the small container of ketchup, and lifted it to her lips. Once she had something in her empty stomach, she realized just how hungry she was. Pacing herself, so as not the ruin the guise that she wasn't hungry, Brennan slowly chipped away at the large mound of french fries piled on Booth's plate until there was only a little over half left.

"Wow, I guess you were hungry after all, huh Bones?" Booth said, turning his attention back to her after loosing an argument with Cam about if school food was even allowed to be called food. Booth had claimed that it wasn't the greatest, but wasn't awful, but had lost all grounds for his point when Cam took a small piece of his burger and bounced it across the table.

"_Hamburger shouldn't bounce, Seeley."_

_He had glared at her, and reached for a fry. "The fries are pretty good though!"_

"_It's cooked strips of potato- how can you screw that up without trying?"_

Booth had cut his losses, and looked down at his plate to see that half of his "pretty good" fries had disappeared down the throat of one beautiful future scientist.

"I find that now that I have started eating that I am more hungry then I thought I was."

Booth laughed. "Apparently!"

Brennan blushed, her face turning what Booth thought to be the prettiest shade of red-pink he had ever seen

"Sorry..."

"You're fine, Bones. I wasn't gonna eat all of 'em."

"I know, but you paid for your meal and I ate half of it..."

"Bones, it's fine. Don't worry." He looked again at his half eaten plate of food. "Just leave some for me next time." He added with another laugh.

"Sorry..."

"I'm kidding Bones, it was a joke."

"Oh... yes! I see now, it was very funny, Booth!"

"Uh huh..."

"Yes, because-"

"Yeah, we know Bones, you don't need to explain."

"Oh... sorry..."

Booth smiled at her again. "You're fine."

"So... You don't mind if I have another then?" Brennan smiled, grabbing another fry and capturing it between her lips.

"Hey! I never said that!"

Brennan just smiled, chewing the crispy bit of potato.

Booth shook his head, raising his eyebrow at her. How she could go from trying to understand some funny little thing he had said, to doing what he liked to think of her version of flirting with him amazed him. He loved it. He even allowed himself to entertain the idea... Maybe he just loved... _her..._

* * *

Aww... Now wasn't that cute? Yeah, I think so too ;) I hope you liked it, and I hope even more that you'll let me know what about it you did or didn't like. I love to hear from you no matter what you say :) (I do like hearing positive things more though) :) Let's see... how about 300 pointless points for every review? Yeah, that sounds good. Please review!

(PS: Do you people like my stupid little point system, or do you think it's lame? I'm kinda on the fence...)


	13. Chapter 13

I'm back again! Sorry it always takes so long for me to update, I've been super busy. School, catching up on sleep, more school... It's great. I did finally finish another chapter though, so I hope you enjoy!

* * *

Booth woke up to the loud blaring of his alarm clock. Turning over on his side, he stretched out one, long, muscled arm, letting it drop over the snooze button and putting a stop to the incessant beeping. He sighed. It was Friday. The thought of that left him with conflicting emotions. Joy over- well, the fact that it was Friday. He could sleep in tomorrow, lounge around in sweatpants, and do nothing. However, the fact that it was Friday also meant that, after today, there would be two entire days until he would see his precious Bones. _Two whole days! _He knew that he had just met her, and spent far more than two days without seeing her in the past, but still... Especially with her being absent from school so much that week... What if something happened to her? What _had _happened to her? Even though she was trying her best not to show it, he could tell that she was in pain yesterday. Somehow, she had been hurt, and Booth was worried sick that it would happen again.

Booth's train of thought was interrupted as the time on the snooze alarm ran out and it began frantically beeping again. Groaning, he slammed his clenched fist into the button again, and dragged himself out of the warm cocoon of his bed to get ready for the day. He paced his room, gathering this and that, shedding his worn sweatpants and replacing them with dark wash denim jeans. He threw his bag over his shoulder, and ran down the stairs, already running late. With a wave to his grandfather and a muffin in hand, he rushed his brother out the door and into his truck, setting off towards school.

"Hey, Seeley?"

"What Jar?"

"Can we run by Jake's house real quick? We did a project together, and he finished it off, but he told me he wasn't going to be there today, and it's due..."

Booth sighed. "You already have a project due?"

"My history teacher is evil."

Booth sighed again, checking the time on the dashboard. "Fine, where does he live?"

Jared proceeded to give his older brother instructions until they ended up outside of a small, warm looking house. He ran to the door, and about a minute later, ran back to the truck, carrying something wrapped in a plastic trash bag.

"What is it?"

"A spinning wheel."

"A spinning wheel?"

"Yep."

"Why?" Booth pulled away from the curb.

"I don't know. Something about mid-evil people or something."

Booth shook his head.

"It spins."

"Really?"

"Yep. We made it out of cardboard. And a lot of tape. And a pencil for it to turn on."

Wow. You're dedicated."

"Yeah... We got a bit carried away..."

"I guess..."

They sat in silence for a few moments.

"Is that...? No... Is it...?" Booth leaned forward a bit, squinting his eyes at a figure walking a ways in front of them.

"What?"

"That girl... I know her..."

"Who? Oh, her?" Jared noticed a tall, thin girl walking on the sidewalk up ahead.

"Yeah... That's Bones!"

"Bones?"

"Yeah, she's really good with anatomy. I call her Bones, you can call her Brennan."

"Ok..."

Booth drove past the girl, and pulled over, waiting for her to walk past him. It wasn't long before she did.

"Hey Bones." The girl jumped, lifting her gaze from the book she had been focusing on a moment before.

"Booth?"

"The one and only." He flashed her his signature charm smile.

Brennan shook her head, smiling her little, sideways smile.

"Want a ride?"

Brennan looked past Booth, noticing the younger boy sitting beside him. "I don't think there's room..."

"Yeah there is, we can stick Jar in the back."

"Hey!" Jared yelled in protest.

"I'm fine, Booth. I can walk."

"I know you can, but we're going where you're going, and we can make room."

"Booth..."

"Im serious! Jar won't mind, right?" He turned to look at his brother, shooting him a look that said if he didn't play along, he wouldn't be happy.

"Sure, I don't mind!" Jared said in a falsely happy voice. "Cramming into a tiny backseat is just what I wanted to do today..." He added under his breath.

"Are you sure...?"

"Positive. Come on!" Booth motioned for her to join him and his brother in the truck. Brennan shook her head again, and made her way around to the passenger side of the truck, climbing into the seat and buckling her belt.

"If you want I can give you a ride home too."

"No, I'm fine."

"Are you sure? I really don't mind."

"I know. I'm fine."

Booth smiled at her, and pulled back out away from the curb. "You're getting a ride home."

"No I'm not."

"Yes you are."

"No I'm not!"

"You know, he's not going to take 'no' for an answer, so I'd just give in now." Jared put in from the back seat.

"It's true." Booth added.

Brennan decided to drop the issue for the moment. "So is this your brother, Booth?" She asked, turning to look at the boy.

"Oh, yeah, that's Jared."

"Hello Jared. I'm Brennan." She stuck her hand out for him to shake.

"Yeah, I know." He replied, shaking her hand. "Seeley told me about you."

"He did?"

"Yeah, he _really _likes you."

"Jared!"

"What?" Brennan and Jared asked in unison. Jared put his hands up in surrender, but Brennan continued on.

"Jared was simply relating facts, Booth. He wasn't hurting anything. It's completely normal for people to share information with their family members, especially about new situations. Because I, as a new acquittance, would qualify as a new situation-"

Booth cut her off. "Yeah, yeah, I know, it's normal to talk about you, whatever. But still." Booth eyed Jared in the rear view mirror. "No more, Jar."

"Whatever." Jared crossed his arms moodily.

"Booth, stop patronizing your brother, he's not being a problem!"

"Yes he is!"

"No he isn't, he's just creating conversation, weren't you Jared?"

"Yeah, _totally..._" His voice had a soft sarcastic edge.

"See? Not a problem!"

Booth looked flustered, and more than slightly annoyed.

"I like her." Jared said, uncrossing his arms and moving to lead against the back of Booth's seat. "I like her a lot."

* * *

So... Not much happened in this chapter, but I thought it was a pretty cute scene, so... yeah. There you go. :) I'm not sure if I've already mentioned this, but "Jar" is just pronounced like "Jared" without the -ed, not Jar like pickle jar. Speaking of Jared, do ya like his little spinning wheel project? It was inspired by the cardboard and tape spinning wheel that I had to make recently! Why you ask? Because my French teacher's weird. But you know what's even weirder? Sitting in your driveway for an hour stabbing cardboard and taping it back together. Yay. Sorry for the tangent there... PLEASE REVIEW! I love you all! :)


	14. Chapter 14

I'm SOOOOOOOOO sorry. And yes, I know, I'm a horrible, horrible human being. what's it been? two weeks now? I'm so sorry! But, hey! At least I'm finally updating again, right? I'll try and do that more often... Hopefully I haven't lost you, and all you wonderful people will keep reading and reviewing. Speaking of reviewing, I'm almost at 100 reviews! ONE FREAKING HUNDRED! Thank you SOOOOOOOOOO much! Anyway, enough of my yammering on, here's what you all have (hopefully) been looking forward to :)

* * *

It wasn't long before the small group arrived at the school, and it took Jared about five seconds to worm his way out of the cramped backseat, say goodbye to the two still in the car, and run off to find his friends, spinning wheel in hand. Booth and Brennan watched him go.

"I like your brother, he seems very sweet."

Booth snorted. "Just wait until you actually get to know him. That'll change."

Brennan smiled. "You're just biased because you're related."

"No, he's an evil little kid!"

"Booth..."

"I'm serious, Bones!"

Brennan just shook his head. "Come on, Booth." She grabbed her worn bag and carefully climbed out of the car, her ribs still extremely sore. He jumped out after her, throwing his bag over his own shoulder, locking the car, and jogging slightly to catch up with her long, quick strides.

"Ya know, I can give you a ride home too if you want."

"I'm fine, I don't mind walking."

"Bones..."

"What?"

"You sure? I don't mind!"

"I'm fine Booth."

"Too bad, you're getting a ride."

"No I'm not!"

"Yes you are, I'm not giving you a choice."

"Booth!"

"Bones!"

The pair continued to argue until about half way through their anatomy class when Brennan gave in in an attempt to shut Booth up.

"Ha! I win!" Booth whispered.

"Shh!" Brennan whispered back for the hundredth time. "Pay attention!"

"Why should I pay attention when I have you to help me?"

"What if I decide not to help you?"

"You won't do that, you're to nice!"

"You don't know that!"

"Yes I do."

"No, you don't Booth. I'm not helping you."

"Mr. Booth, do you have something you want to share with the class?" Mr. Stires interrupted their conversation.

"Uh, nope. I don't think so."

"Are you sure? You seem to be very... chatty today."

"I'm sure.

"Would you like detention, Mr. Booth?"  
"No, thank you."

"Then don't talk in my class."

"I haven't been talking. I've been whispering."

"BOOTH!" Brennan hissed.

"What?" Booth hissed back.

"I don't appreciate your 'humor' Mr. Booth. Behave."

"Yes sir."

Booth finally shut up, and payed what was his version of "attention" for the rest of the lesson, which consisted partly of sleeping, partly of doodling on the corner of his paper, and the rest hurriedly copying what Brennan had written down. Eventually, the lesson was ended by the sound of a bell ringing, and then the sound of papers being stuffed into bags.

"So, see ya at lunch?"

"Yes, unless something unexpected happens causing one or both of us not to be able to-"

"Yeah, Bones, I get it. I'll see you at lunch." He grinned quickly at her, and turned around, heading off to his next class. Brennan smiled a soft, uninhibited, crooked smile, and turned away form his retreating back, heading off to her art class.

~B&B~

The day passed rather uneventfully- nothing really new except for the still-odd feeling Brennan had that was having friends. It was new, and weird, and she liked it. She liked it a lot. She had never been able to connect with people very well, but this was an exception. She had friends. Friends that generally seemed to like being around her. Brennan smiled at the thought. Booth had ended up giving her what he thought was a ride home, but what really was a ride to a pleasant looking house a few streets over from where she actually lived. She didn't want him showing up unexpectedly, setting her foster father on another rampage.

She wished that she could though. That she could invite him over, and spend the day with him. It was Thursday- and after that it would be Friday, and then the weekend. The part of the week that most kids looked forward to, but that Brennan dreaded, and feared. Two entire days of being in the same house as abusive foster parents. She would probably be able to sneak out though, and roam the neighborhood and town for a few hours. Her "parents" wouldn't notice- that's for sure. Yes, that would do. As long as she was careful and quiet, she could avoid being injured further.

Brennan took a deep breath, her lungs filling with the unpleasant scent of cigarette smoke and alcohol that clung to everything in the run down house she was occupying. She partly hoped it wouldn't be to long until she was able to escape the clutch of Mr. and Mrs. Henson, but on the other hand, being moved to a new foster home would mean leaving her new found friends. Angela, Hodgins, Zack, Sweets, Cam, and , of course, Booth. Booth... She didn't know if she liked his company, or couldn't stand him. It was almost as if he was a strange combination of both... A strange, irresistible combination...

* * *

So, there ya go :) I'll try not to disappear for that long again... I'm still REALLY sorry about that... Let's say... 367 points to each wonderful reviewer? Yeah, that's a good number. :) I'll try and update soon my lovelies :D


	15. Chapter 15

Oh my gosh, I AM SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO SORRY! I haven't updated this thing in MONTHS! I am still here though, so hopefully you haven't given up on me! Life's been busy, and I've been lazy, and one week has lead to another and another, and I think you get the picture. I will try my absolute best to update WAY more often than I have been, so please keep reading! Anyway, I did FINALLY write another chapter, so hopefully you'll like it as much as you've liked the rest of my little story here! (Which is either a good or bad thing depending on who you are) Oh, wait, YOU GUYS HAVE REVIEWED OVER 100 TIMES! YOU ARE AMAZING! Thank you soooo much! Anyway, enough of me, lets get on with what you actually clicked on this for, shall we?

* * *

A thin stream of light leaked from the small bit of window that had escaped being covered by the large t-shirt that was hung as a makeshift curtain. Tiny particles of dust caught in the golden spot light danced in the calm morning air before drifting into the darker part of the tiny room. A soft groan filled the room, and the figure that had been balled up on the flat mattress moved slightly so that the beam of light landed on her pale, bruised face. Brennan woke with a start- forgetting it was Saturday, and thinking she would be late for school before realizing that it was in fact the weekend. She carefully straightened her spine and silently rose from the small bed, heading towards the bathroom. She had avoided any further injury after her beating five days ago, but her ribs were still more that a little sore.

Arriving at the bathroom, Brennan looked up into the clouded mirror that hung above the sink. Parts of her face had returned to its original color, but much of it was still the ugly brown-green of a fading bruise. Quickly applying a layer of makeup to cover the marks, she turned her attention to the rest of her body. She was happy to see most of the marks on her lower arms had faded nearly into absence, allowing her to be able to wear a short sleeve shirt for the first time that week. Without a sound, Brennan quickly finished in the bathroom and made her way back to her bedroom. It was a weekend, which meant she had two options- either stay hidden away in her room and hope Mr. Henson didn't come looking for her, or try and sneak out for the day and still hope Mr. Henson didn't come looking for her. After a few moments of careful consideration, Brennan decided that the safer of the two would be to escape the house and wonder the town for the day.

Luck was on her side. Mr. Henson was sleeping off another night of heavy drinking, and would probably not be awake until at least the next morning if the number of empty bottles around him meant anything. Skipping the third, fifth, and seventh stairs from the bottom (the ones that squeaked), Brennan walked with silent steps to the front door and worked it open as quietly as possible before slipping outside and closing it again.

Freedom. Or, at least as much as she could give herself. She would still need to return to the Henson house eventually, but right now, she was free to do as she pleased. Deciding to simply wander around, she started off, heading towards a large park a good ways away from where she lived. After a few minutes of walking, Brennan began to get the feeling of someone watching her, and casually looked over her shoulder to see the man that had been following her for what she suspected had been a few blocks now.

"Booth!" Brennan cheered, and reprimanded.

"What?" He said, laughing slightly at the started look on her face. "Did I scare ya?"

"No," Brennan quickly dismissed. "I simply wasn't expecting you to be there."

"Sooo... I scared ya?"

"No, you didn't! You surprised me, there's a difference, Booth."

"Sure there is..."

"There is. Did you want something? Or were you just following me around for fun?"

Booth smiled and slung his arm over her shoulder before quickly retracting it after feeling her flinch under its weight. "No reason, just for fun!"

Brennan, who didn't trust herself to talk quite yet after the shock to her system Booth's arm had caused simply raised her eyebrow at him.

"What?"

She kept arched her brow slightly higher.

"Ok, I saw you a little bit back and wanted to see if you were free today."

"Why?"

"I don't know, I was wondering if maybe you wanted to do something? You know, with me...?" He wiped his suddenly sweaty palms on his jeans, nervous.

Brennan thought for a moment. "Sure," She said. "What do you want to do?"

"You hungry? There's a really good diner not far from here..."

Brennan thought for a second before her growling stomach interrupted her.

"You're hungry, Bones, come on." Booth said with a smile, grabbing her hand and lightly pulling her after him as he off in the direction of the diner.

~B&B~

Brennan had been much happier than she had let on when she saw Booth standing behind her. She had secretly been hoping to run into him, even if just for a moment long enough to wave hi. As it turned out, not only did he have time to say hi, but he had nothing to do for the rest of the day and seemed perfectly happy to simply walk around town with her, pointing out quirky little things. So far, Brennan had learned the locations of the best tree for climbing, the squeakiest swing in all of the parks in the area, and the "best ice cream shop in the universe," whose name she had objected to, saying he can't possibly have tried ice cream form every shop in the universe and therefore had no grounds to make such an outlandish statement.

"Hey Bones, wanna stop by my place for dinner or something? Pops would love to meet ya!" Booth asked, sounding scarily similar to a five year old.

"Oh, no, I don't want to intrude."

"You won't be intruding, I'm inviting you!"

"I know you're inviting me, but many social constructs-"

He cut her off. "Blah blah blah, ancient societies, yada yada, I get it. Come on, you're coming over for dinner."

"Booth!"

"What?"

"You don't have to." Her head was tilted slightly to the side, reminding him of a puppy.

He smiled. "I know. I want to."

She returned the grin with a small sideways one of her own. "Fine."

It turned out that Booth's home was only about a five minute walk from where they had just been, so it wasn't long until the pair arrived at the small, friendly looking house where Booth lived. It was a small, skinny house, much like the one Brennan's foster parents occupied, but it was a bit bigger, and had not been let fall into disrepair.

"It's not much," Booth said, kneeing open the door, "But it works."

"It's great." Brennan said, stepping inside and glancing over the numerous photographs hanging on the wall.

"Oh God, don't look at that," Booth said, running to stand in front of one particular picture a short ways down the wide hallway.

"Why? What's it of?" Brennan asked, her curiosity immediately coming into play.

"Nothing, let's go upstairs, I'll show you around." Booth stayed put, motioning for her to go forward.

"No, I want to see the picture!" She halfheartedly tried to shove him out of the way.

"Nope, not allowed!" Booth said, smiling, swooping down to throw Brennan over his shoulder and carry her up the stairs. He stopped short however at the screech of pain that came from his friend's mouth. Freezing, he gently lowered her to the ground and took her face in his hands, kneeling down to bring his eyes level with hers.

"Bones? I'm so sorry, what's wrong? What did I do?" He wiped a single tear that fought its way from the corner of her eye off her cheek. "Bones?"

"Nothing, I'm fine." She said, her voice slightly wobbly.

Booth looked her up and down, noticing that her arms had wrapped themselves around her rib cage and stomach.

"Bones...?"

Slowly and gently, as not to cause her alarm, Booth reached for the hem of her shirt, his eyes never leaving hers, searching for any hint that she was uncomfortable and wanted him to stop. His fingers reached the end of the fabric, and gingerly lifted it upwards, exposing the skin that should have been soft, and porcelain colored, but that was instead angry shades of blue, black, and dark pink.

Booth gasped quietly, stunned by the horrifying array of color before him. "Bones..."

"I'll tell you, Booth." She whispered, not trusting herself to speak loudly. "But you can't tell anyone."

* * *

Oh no! Poor Brennan... :( But Booth knows now! What's gunna happen... o.O I promise I won't go as long without updating again, so you'll be able to find out soon! :) Anyway, what did ya think? Love it? Hate it? Have a comment? Question? Concern? Leave it in a review! Please! :)


	16. Chapter 16

Hey guys, sorry I haven't uploaded for a few weeks... At least it's not a few months, right? (I'm still really sorry about that...) Anyway, here's the next chapter in my little story here, sorry it's so short... :/

* * *

She trusted him. She didn't know why, but it seemed like almost every word that left his mouth was honest, and true. She believed him. When he said he liked her, ("...as a friend of course..." he had added hastily), she believed him. When he smiled at her, and told her to come to a diner she had never been to before with him, she followed willingly. After her scream of pain when he threw her over his shoulder,she believed that the concern in his voice and eyes was real. When he reached for the hem of her shirt, she let him. When he asked, she told him.

"Bones..."

"I'll tell you Booth... But you can't tell anyone."

His eyes briefly lifted from her bruised body to her face. "I won't."

Brennan took as deep of a breath as her broken ribs would allow. "Mr. Henson... He..." She trailed off, not sure if she should continue.

"He... did this to you? When...? Why?" His tone grew more and more angry by the second.

"Booth, calm down, you promised..."

"I know." He gritted his teeth, lifting his hand to stroke gently over the tortured flesh, fingertips only ghosting over the skin.

"He... When I was gone earlier this week, Monday afternoon. I... he... he was drunk. I was... there."

"Bones..."

"I'm fine Booth."

"No you're not."

"You can't do anything, you promised."

"No, I promised not to say anything."

"Booth, you can't."

"Why not?!"

"If people find out, I'll be moved to a new home, I'll have to leave here."

"Wouldn't that be a good thing?"

"No, I don't... I don't want to leave here."

"Why? You're being beat up!"

"But I have friends! I can go to a new home, and odds are they'll either get tired of me within a week or treat me just as bad if not worse that the Henson's."

Booth was silent, considering this.

"Besides," Brennan continued. "It's just a few bruises. It's nothing I haven't had before."

"Bones, that is more than a few bruises."

"Barely."

"Bones..."

Brennan pushed his hands away and gently tugged her shirt back down to her hips, folding her arms across her chest and looking at the lightly patterned carpet.

"I can't let this happen to you, Bones... Not again."

Brennan remained silent.

"I have to do something... you know that, right?"

"No you don't..."

"Yes, I do. I can not let this happen."

"It already happened Booth."

The simple statement was like a slap to the face. She was right. He had failed her. She had gotten hurt. He hadn't been able to help her, he hadn't even been able to tell she was hurt. His mind went back to what she had said earlier. _"It's nothing I haven't had before..." _This had happened before. That bastard, _Mr. Henson_, was not the only person to lay a hand on her. It had happened before. How long before? How many times had she had to put on the brave face, to pretend that she was fine when in actuality, she couldn't have been much worse off.

"I have to help you..."

"How, Booth? What do you plan to do?" Her eyes started to water, tears threatening to break.

"I... I don't know. But I will help you, I promise I will."

Brennan looked up into the boy's face, the sincerity written plain as day.

"Booth..."

"I will, Bones. I swear to you- I will make this better."

A tear escaped from Brennan's eye and rolled down her pale cheek. "Ok..."

* * *

So... What'd ya think? Please let me know in a review, I LIVE FOR REVIEWS! :) Please? k thx bi. :)


	17. Chapter 17

OH GOD OH GOD OH GOD OH GOD I'M SOOOOOOOOOOOOO SOOORRRRYYYYYYY! If you never want to read a word I write again, I don't blame you. I left you all hanging. Again. :'( (*awful person alert*) However, I am once again back, and I SWEAR TO GOD there will be a new chapter every Sunday! If there isn't then you have my permission to come to my house and murder me in my sleep. But... yeah. I had a severe case of writers block along with new TV (*cough NETFLIX! *cough*) shows, and some newly discovered youtubers that are completely hilarious. (See BBC's Sherlock for said TV show, Amazingphil, Danisnotonfire, and Emmablackery for youtubers) Annnnyyyway, you don;t care about that do ya? Now its on to what you've (hopefully) been waiting a few months for!

* * *

Booth lay on his back, his feet hanging off the end of the twin bed that sat in the corner of his room, thinking. It had been three moths since that first Saturday he spent with Bones, just walking around, stopping at the diner, having dinner with him and his family. In that time, Booth and Brennan had grown even closer, and Booth and Cam had officially joined in with Brennan's odd little group of friends. Everything was going great, except for... well, except for Brennan. The previous few months hadn't been bad, just occasional bruises and cuts that Booth would help her ice or patch up, not because she couldn't, but because Booth had wanted to keep his promise. True, the sight of Brennan hurt at all set Booth's blood to a boil and made him itch with the desire to take her to a hospital, or to punch the man who did such horrible things square in the face. But he had promised. He had promised to keep it between them, and that's what he had done. Had been doing. But now... Now Brennan had begun sporting more and more bruises, and more and more often. It was like the first week Booth had known her all over again, and Booth, to put it simply, was stuck. He had made a promise to help, and now that her injuries had surpassed his limited medical skills, he had no idea how on earth he would be able to stay true to either part of said promise. As he lay, staring blankly at his ceiling, his eyes trying to latch onto a blade of the rapidly spinning fan above him, he replayed the conversation back from that first day that they really spent together..

"_I have to help you..." _

He remembered looking down at the tiny, delicate creature huddled in his shadow, her arms crossed protectively over her chest, her crystal eyes downcast, but looking up to meet his as he spoke the words.

"_How, Booth? What do you plan to do?" _

"_I... I don't know. But I will help you, I promise I will."_

_Brennan looked up into the boy's face, the sincerity written plain as day._

"_Booth..."_

"_I will, Bones. I swear to you- I will make this better."_

He had promised- promised this beautiful, broken girl to help. And he did, until now. Now, he didn't have a clue.

Booth raised his arms and pressed the heels of his hand against his eyes, sighing with defeat. There was nothing! He had promised to help, but was also sworn to secrecy, forced to keep the knowledge of Bones' abusive "parents" to himself. He had promised to help Brennan, to protect her, and although he hadn't been able to "protect her" in the sense he had originally thought, he had bandaged her wounds, fed her when she would have otherwise gone hungry, gave her a warm place to spend the night on the not-so-rare occasion when Mr. Henson had decided to lock her out of their house.

Booth was startled out of his thoughts by a strong knock on his bedroom door.

"Yeah?" Booth asked as the door creaked open, reveling the crinkled face of his grandfather.

"Mind if I talk to ya for a minute, Shrimp?"

"Yeah, sure." Booth sat up, moving so that his back was instead against a wall, giving the old man room to sit of the end of the bed. "What about?"

The springs of the mattress groaned at the added weight as the elder Booth sat, a serious look on his face.

"That girl that's been coming over, Brennan..."

At the mention of her name, Booth was on high alert. "Yeah?"

"She's... a foster kid, right?"

"Yeah..." Booth's mind worked furiously, trying to figure out what the man was getting at. "So?"

"Is she..." Pops sighed. "She seems..."

"'She seems...'" Booth prodded.

"Like you did. When your old man was..."

Booth could feel the blood drain from his face. He had already failed. Someone knew and it was all his fault. Pops would alert the people in charge of Brennan's case, she would be moved, possibly to another abusive home, in some other city, with no friends, and no him, and-

"Seeley..."

"She made me promise."

"Promise what?" Now the elder was doing the prodding.

"To help."

Pops thought on this for a moment. "Without telling anyone?"

Booth nodded. "That way she could stay here..."

Pops smiled sadly. "But isn't her staying here hurting her?"

"Yeah, but she told me that odds are she'd get moved to another place with people like the ones she lives with now. She just wouldn't have her friends, or- or me, or-" Booth trailed off, but his grandfather stayed silent. "I just... I don't want her to go. And at least when she's here, she has someone who'll help her... she has me..."

Pops sighed and smiled sadly. "She can't stay in that home forever, Shrimp... She will have to move eventually..."

Booth just nodded, the words that had been hiding in the corners of his mind, now hanging in the air. Pops occupied his place on the bed for a few moments longer, then got to his feet, the springs of the bed groaning again. He crossed to the door, getting halfway through it before turning back to give his grandson a little peace of mind.

"I'll keep this between us for now, Shrimp, but if it gets worse, if _she _gets worse... I can't promise anything."

Booth nodded solemnly.

"It'll be best for her, Seeley, you have to believe that."

"Yeah..." He mumbled, the word burning like acid on his tongue, for if he believed in the meaning it carried in the present situation, it meant that the days he could spend with his Bones were numbered. And he didn't like that thought at all.

* * *

Tadaaaaaaa... Was it worth the wait? Was it complete crap? Are you still pissed off at the season finale like I am? LET ME KNOW IN THE REVIEWS! (Also let me know if you've seen/heard of people/shows mentioned above and what you think of them, I'm curious...)

'Til next week!

RotM


	18. Chapter 18

Sorry! I know I said I'd upload every Sunday, but my computer didn't want me to. (aka- it was capable of doing a grand total of nothing last night. ugh.) But it's all better now! Guess it just needed a day to try and get it together... I don't know, my computer is weird. Very temperamental. Thank you to everyone who reviewed my last chapter, and even if you didn't review, thanks for reading! I love you all! Anyway, here is the latest installment of what is possibly the most creatively named piece I have ever written! *sarcasm* Enjoy!

* * *

It had been a few weeks sense Pops' discovery of Brennan's condition, and not much had changed. Brennan would still come to school in long sleeve shirts, covering minor bruises on her arms, but the marks were never bad enough to keep her home from school again. Booth was still _extremely _protective of Brennan, and she found herself spending more and more time at the Booth residence before returning to her "home" each night. She would sit and watch the Booth during his after school football practice before rejoining him at its conclusion for a ride to his house, where the spent the day doing whatever they wanted. Brennan was becoming more and more comfortable around all the Booths, and Booth was just falling just a little bit more in love with her each day.

"Booth, you need to study, we have an anatomy test tomorrow and, unlike me, you do not possess intimate knowledge of the human skeletal system required to pass."

"I don't need an 'intimate understanding' or whatever, I just need to remember basics. You can help me with that tomorrow morning."

"Booth, an entire section of the test is just on human facial structure, do you even have a hint at what the bones of the face are?"

"A clue, Bones, I have a clue." Booth's face stretched into his signature half-grin.

"Oh." Brennan said, making a mental note of the correct phase. "But do you?"

"Yeah." Booth said, almost defensively.

"Prove it." Brennan retorted, moving so that she sat with her neck outstretched to him, her face grinning up at him with a half smile of her own.

"What, you want me to find 'em on you?"

"Yes, I thought that was obvious." A small frown crossed her face.

"Ok, just making sure.."

Booth shifted slightly so that he was facing Brennan and began.

"Frontal..." He lifted his hand and ghosted a single finger across her forehead, then moving back, slightly past her hairline. "Parietal, sphenoid, temporal..." His finger trailed along her face, passing the correct bone as he spoke its name. "Zygomatic, mandible," his finger lighltly stroked across her lower lip as well.

Brennan could feel her breath quickening slightly at the nearness of him, only a matter of inches separating their faces.

_Booth is my friend. _She thought fiercely to herself. _Nothing more..._ She wasn't sure if she believed it.

Meanwhile, Booth's hand had moved to the back of her head. "Parietal..."

"You already said that one." Brennan said, her voice not as strong as she would have liked it to be.

"and occipital." He finished, his hand sliding down to cup the lower part of her skull, his thumb rubbing small circles on the very top of her neck.

"Booth-" She began, but was cut off by his lips on hers, tentative, not sure how she'd respond. For a moment she sat, frozen in shock. It was only a second though before she unfroze, moving her moth softly against his, her hands lifting to loop around his strong neck.

Booth couldn't help himself, so close to her, his hand on the back of her head and neck, so he let in to his nearly overpowering urge, and laid his lips gently across hers, the first contact sending jolts of electricity down his spine. She didn't respond at first, just sat there,not moving, but just before Booth was about to pull back, she moved, her lips pressing lightly back against his. Booth was overjoyed as he continued the kiss, their lips fitting together perfectly as if they had each been designed that way.

It wasn't long before they both pulled back, desperate for air. The sat gasping on the Booth family's tired couch, almost afraid to meet the others' eyes.

"That was..." Brennan started.

"Amazing." Booth finished, lifting his gaze to meet hers, her bright blue eyes gleaming with a happiness he had yet to see in them.

"Yes." She agreed. "Amazing seems an appropriate word."

Booth laughed lightly, bring his lips to hers once again.

~B&B~

"Booth! I'm late! I needed to be home half an hour ago!"

Though her foster parents had not set a curfew, Brennan knew she had to be home by 6:30 in order to make dinner, but the new couple had been to busy with each other to notice minute hand bypassing the six and now almost nearing the twelve.

"Oh shit!" Booth all but yelled, launching off the couch and sprinting to gather his shoes and keys. Bu the time he got everything together, Brennan was already standing by the door, a worried look on her face.

"Don't worry Bones, I'll go up to the door with you and explain how you were helping me study and it's all my fault and-"

"NO!" Brennan said sharply. "You can't! You being there will only make it worse! Just drop me off and drive away Booth."

"But-"

"No. I get out of the car, you leave."

"But-"

"Booth."

He gave her a look that said "I don't like it but I guess I'll do it".

"Thank you."

~B&B~

Booth had dropped Brennan off, but not necessarily drive _away_, as he was sitting in his truck which was parked a few doors down, watching the house in his rear view mirror. He knew that he probably would not be able to see anything or do any good by simply watching the house, but just being there gave him some, if not much, piece of mind. After about 20 minutes of no activity however, Booth realized that he needed to go home, and that hopefully whatever damage his Bones received could be rectified by him the next day after school.

Only one problem. Brennan wasn't at school he next day. Or the day after that. Everyone was worried, Cam, Angela, Sweets, Hodgins, even Zack mustered up some emotion to worry about their missing friend. Booth couldn't take it. He knew that showing up on her front doorstep was definitely not the smartest move in the world, but it was all he could think of to do! So that day, as soon as the final bell rang, Booth had ditched his football practice and was heading off to the small, run down house he knew Brennan was staying in. However, the second he turned onto her street, if felt like someone hit him in the stomach with a ton of bricks. Police cars lined the street, and an ambulance with flashing lights awaited its passenger, most likely Brennan. Booth pulled as close to her house as he could and jumped out of the car, not even bothering to shut the engine off. Police officers tried to hold him back, but he just pushed them out of the way, shouting things like how he was her best friend, and her boyfriend, and oh god it was all his fault for not paying attention to the goddamn time.

Then, he saw her. She was curled up in a ball in the trunk of the Henson's car, covered in bruises and he own blood. She wasn't awake, probably out cold from the beating or from what was coming up on her third day without water. He heard someone shout her name, not "Brennan" or "Temperance" but his name for her, "BONES! BONES!" The cry was desperate, and heartbreaking, and he pitted he whose throat it came erupted when he realized that it was his own throat that the sounds came from.

"Sir?" It was a police officer trying to talk to him. "Sir do you know this girl?"

Booth was incapable of speech so he simply nodded, tears making there way from his eyes despite his efforts to hold them back. "Bones..." He muttered, sinking to the ground as he watched her get loaded on a stretcher and carried into the ambulance which promptly took off, racing towards the nearest hospital. He took a deep breath trying to compose himself after his beak down. "H-her name is Temperance. Temperance Brennan."

* * *

Awww poor Brennan! :'( I'm planning on having one, maybe two more chapters in this story, so right as i get my head out of my butt and actually start writing again it'll be ending, but hey. All (hopefully) good things have to come to an end! Right? Yeah, they do. Because if they don't, you get Scrubs' 9th season which everyone knows is just complete crap. (apologies to anyone who actually LIKED that season...) Anyway, please please please review as it makes me so very happy, and I promise to actually put up the next chapter on SUNDAY like I promised. Bye!


End file.
